Record-breaking 6.47 lakh devotees avail Vaikuntadwara darshan: EO Dharma Reddy

TIRUMALA: A record number of 6.47 lakh devotees had Vaikuntadwara Darshan between December 23 and January 1, 2024, said TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy on Tuesday.

Addressing a media conference at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala he said devotees were provided with comfortable and hassle free Srivari Darshan through time Slotted tokens to avoid prolonged wait in queue lines and more number of devotees than usual had Anna Prasadam during the period.

He said during ten days as many as 19,255 VIP break protocol tickets were issued but only 18,578 attended and 677 (3.3 %) were absent. Similarly, 6858 tickets were booked online by donors of which 6,388 were present and 470(7%) were absent.

The Srivani Trust donors were issued 20,000 tickets of which 917 (4.5%) did not come. A total of 2.25 lakh Rs. 300 Special entry darshan tickets were issued online of which 1,97,254 availed with 27,476 (12.2%) absentees. Nearly 4,23,500 time slot Sarva Darshan tokens were issued of which 3,24,102 utilized darshan and 90,850 (21.5%) did not come.

TTD Hundi collection recorded Rs. 40.20 crores, 17.81 Anna Prasadam, 35.60 lakh laddus sold and 2.14 lakh devotees tonsured hairs.

Responding to a media query EO said there was no response from the Archeological survey of India for several letters with regard to repairing the dilapidated stone Padala Mandapam at Alipiri.

Similarly there was no response to letters about the wall collapse of Sri Soumyanath Swamy temple at Nandalur. TTD has set up a division with experts and Sthapathis for rejuvenation of dilapidated Mandapams and temples.

The SV traditional sculpture institute of TTD has produced sculptors to make and rebuild temples.They had built wonderful temples at Jammu, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Odisha, Kanyakumari, Seethampeta and Rampachodavaram regions.

He said devotees on Alipiri footpath are regularly alerted to movements of leopards and other wild animals after tracking them on trap cameras installed in the region. Further action was initiated to buy more trap cameras.

Srivari temple Dy EO Lokanatham, VGO Nanda Kishore and catering OSD GLN Shastri were also present.